Portal:Last Mail Run/Intro
The Clipper Age brought the development of a highly skilled set of sailors and craftsmen, and great notoriety for both the ships and crews that sailed them. Clippers were designed for fast voyages and this resonated with the 19th Century’s fascination for speed. Today they still represent some of the fastest oceangoing sailing vessels in the world.
Clippers were instrumental in opening new trade routes. The Great Clipper Races, relating to the transport of Australian wool and Chinese tea to the London markets, are an enduring memory of the importance of the clippers. The only two remaining examples of this important era of clipper design are the ‘City of Adelaide’ (1864) and the ‘Cutty Sark’ (1869). That the ‘City of Adelaide’ and the ‘Cutty Sark’ have survived to this day is a testament to the designers and builders of these composite clippers.
The ‘City of Adelaide’ is also rather unique in that she was designed as a passenger ship – and now represents a vital icon of the making of modern Australia and of the relationship between Britain and the Australian colonies.
The ‘City of Adelaide’ travelled around the world on each of its return journeys carrying a wide range of passengers and cargo. The passengers on board included whole families travelling to South Australia to start a new life. They may have already had relatives in the State. There were businessmen returning to Britain or going back to Australia. Children were born during the voyage and illness overtook others and they were buried at sea.
Now a project is underway to move the ‘City of Adelaide’ from the Scottish slipway where it has stood for the past 20 years and transport her to Port Adelaide in South Australia - representing the world’s last ever voyage of a Victorian era clipper ship.
In a joint Scottish-Australian initiative, we can arrange for a letter or letters to travel on board the clipper and be delivered to an appropriate primary school in South Australia. Your school might want to provide information about your area today and how it was in 1864 when passengers first boarded the ‘City of Adelaide’, bound for South Australia.
If you wish to participate please contact us with an e-mail contact so that we can provide details of the deadline for the receipt of letters, the time-table for the sailing and progress reports during the journey. It might also be possible for some accompanied pupils to witness the departure of the ship from Scotland.
| No. | Name on Passenger List | GEDCOM Name | Cabin Class | Birth Place | UK Residence | Aus Residence | Voyage(s) | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Methuen, Matilda | Methuen, Matilda | First Class (Saloon) | Leith, Scotland | 1864 | travelled to South Australia expressly to marry her cousin Peter Waite. | ||
| 2 | Wilcox, Annie | Fuller, Annie Caldicot | First Class (Saloon) | Eynesbury, Bedfordshire | 1864 | returned 1873 giving birth to son at sea. | ||
| 3 | Wilcox, Mr. George | Wilcox, George | First Class (Saloon) | St Neots, Huntingdonshire | 1864 | Businessman returning to Adelaide having first arrived in 1858 | ||
| 4 | Humbley, Mr. H. | Humbley, Richard Humbley Wells | Second Class Cabins | Reading Berkshire | 1864 | Aged 20 | ||
| 5 | Price, Mr. C. J. | Price, Charles Joseph | Second Class Cabins | St Luke’s, Middlesex | 1864 | Aged 21 probably a plasterer | ||
| 6 | Ringwood, Mr. T. W. | Ringwood, Frederick William | First Class (Saloon) | County Westmeath, Ireland | 1864 | son of Rev Henry Taylor Ringwood M.A., warden of Wilson’s Hospital, a large school founded in 1725 at Multyfarnham, Westmeath | ||
| 7 | Suter, Mr. E | Suter, Edward | First Class (Saloon) | King’s Norton, Birmingham | 1864 | & wife Fanny | ||
| 8 | Cockburn Campbell, Sir Thomas | Cockburn Campbell, Thomas | First Class (Saloon) | Exeter, Devon | 1864 | Aged 19 on his way to learn to be a surveyor in Queensland | ||
| 9 | Nason, Dr. | Nason, Edward | First Class (Saloon) | Nuneaton | Leamington in Warwickshire | 1864 | Ship's Doctor | |
| 10 | Hay, Mr. John | Hay, John | Second Class Cabins | Perth, Scotland | 1865 | |||
| 11 | Barber, Mr. | Barber, William Henry | First Class (Saloon) | New Kent Road, Surrey | Lewisham | 1865 | Jeweller with five children | |
| 12 | Todd, Mr. G. G. | Todd, Griffith George | First Class (Saloon) | Greenwich | 1867 | aged 15 an orphan who had been educated by his uncle in Greenwich | ||
| 13 | Purches, Mr. | Purches, John | Second Class Cabins | Portsea in Hampshire | 1867 | with 4 children returning from visiting the family | ||
| 14 | Cameron, Niece Mary Ann | Cameron, Mary Ann | Second Class Cabins | Perth Scotland | 1867 | Same Location as No. 10 | ||
| 15 | Brewster, Mr. | Brewster, John | Second Class Cabins | Married Scone, Scotland | 1867 | & wife Anne Cameron | ||
| 16 | Weld, His Excell F. A. | Weld, Sir Frederick Aloysius | First Class (Saloon) | Chideock Manor, Dorset | 1869 | Governor of Western Australia with family of 7 and 7 servants. | ||
| 17 | Aitcheson, Mr. | Aitcheson, | Second Class Cabins | Dunbar | 1871 | & wife and son | ||
| 18 | Miller, Mr. | Miller, Melville | First Class (Saloon) | Leslie in Fifeshire | 1871 | Draper - wife is Sarah Ferguson | ||
| 19 | Miller, Mrs. | Ferguson, Sarah Moffatt | First Class (Saloon) | Dumfries | 1871 | Married to above | ||
| 20 | Nancarrow, William | Nancarrow, William | Steerage | Redruth, Cornwall | 1873 | Assisted Passage - Miner with three children + widowed sister | ||
| 21 | Edwards, Sarah Jane | Edwards, Sarah Jane | Steerage | Redruth, Cornwall | 1873 | With above but child (See No. 20) | ||
| 22 | Stribling, Alfred | Stribling, Alfred | Steerage | Greenstead, Colchester | Bethnel Green | 1873 | Labourer | |
| 23 | Atkins, Edward Charles | Atkins, Edward Charles | Steerage | Bromley E London | 1873 | Labourer | ||
| 24 | Arthur, James | Arthur, James | Steerage | Springburn Glasgow | 1874 | Blacksmith with family of six children | ||
| 25 | McLauchlan, James | McLauchlan, James | Steerage | Monifieth in Forfarshire | 1874 | Mechanic | ||
| 26 | Burton, Isabella | Burton, Isabella | Steerage | Abergavenny, Wales | 1874 | Dressmaker | ||
| 27 | Shields, Robert | Shields,Robert | Steerage | Mochrum, Dumfries & Galloway | 1874 | and family of seven children | ||
| 28 | Williams, Richard | Williams, Richard | Steerage | Redruth, Cornwall | 1874 | Copper Miner and family of six children (See no.20) | ||
| 29 | Phillips, Eliza | Phillips, Eliza | Steerage | Megavissey, Cornwall | 1874 | Semptress | ||
| 30 | Morley, Helena | Morley, Helena | Steerage | Stoke Climsland, Cornwall | 1874 | Domestic servant. Only 17 when left. Other family members came on different voyages | ||
| 31 | Alston, Capt. | Alston, Edward Daniel | First Class (Saloon) | Great Bromley Essex | 1877 | Captain | ||
| 32 | Cheadle, Mr. | Cheadle, Alfred Stanley | First Class (Saloon) | Bradford | 1880 | Wool buyer |